Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.42.1–35.3.5
Latin text: CSEL 64 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 64, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Explanation 1, chapter 42
1.42.1CSEL 64:35–36
Mystica saluant et a morte liberant, moralia autem ornamenta decoris sunt, non subsidia redemptionis. praestare autem mystica moralibus etiam ipse dominus docet in euangelio suo dicens de Maria, quae sedens secus pedes domini audiebat uerbum illius, cum Martha circa ministerium festinaret et quereretur, quod soror eam propria circa mensae ministerium non iuuaret: Martha
The mystical things save and free from death; the moral things are ornaments of beauty, not aids to redemption. That the mystical surpasses the moral the Lord himself teaches in his gospel, saying of Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and heard his word while Martha hurried about the serving and complained that her sister did not help her with serving the table: "Martha,
Luke 10:39 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 10:40 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The mysteries save; morals adorn, as Mary's part surpasses Martha's.
- Luke 10:39–40.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.42.1 (CSEL 64:35–36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-42-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-42-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.42.2CSEL 64:36
Martha, Maria optimam partem elegit sibi, quae non auferetur illi. si quae Christo ministrabat ad mensam non conferebatur ei quae uerbum cupiebat audire, quem operantem studioso cognitionis aeternae conferre poterimus, ita tamen, ut nec illius operationi fides nec huius cognitioni, sicut Mariae, desit operatio, ne uel folia sine fructu sint uel fructus sine munimentis naturalibus sit intectus et pateat iniuriae?
Martha, Mary has chosen the best part for herself, which will not be taken from her." If she who served Christ at table was not compared with her who longed to hear the word, which man of works shall we be able to compare with one eager for eternal knowledge? Yet in such a way that neither the one's working lacks faith nor the other's knowledge, like Mary's, lacks working, lest either the leaves be without fruit or the fruit be uncovered, without its natural protection, and exposed to harm.
Luke 10:41 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 10:42 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Faith and works belong together, like fruit and leaf.
- Luke 10:41–42.
Topics: Ethics, Good works and merit, Faith
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.42.2 (CSEL 64:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-42-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-42-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 43
1.43.1CSEL 64:36
Possumus etiam illud intellegere, quia foliis se texerunt Adam atque Eua corporea uestimenta quaerentes, eo quod resurrectio dominici corporis prophetaretur, quia nec caro, quae antea uice foliorum interire consueuerat, peritura esset in Christo iustorumque omnium, qui secundum euangelium ad imitationem ligni sapientiae nati ex uirgine uitam suam actusque formarent.
We can also understand that Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves, seeking bodily garments, because the resurrection of the Lord's body was being prophesied: that the flesh, which before used to perish like leaves, would not perish in Christ nor in all the just, who, according to the gospel, would shape their life and actions in imitation of the tree of wisdom born of the virgin.
Gen 3:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 1:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The leaves of Adam and Eve foretold the resurrection: the leaf that does not fall.
- Gen 3:7; Ps 1:3.
Topics: Eschatology, Resurrection of the body
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.43.1 (CSEL 64:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.43.2CSEL 64:36
nam Graecus ita dixit: o rov xaQ7iov avxov lJWOSt, quod potest ad beatum referri — (xaxaQioq XOQVZOV <5a>oei Graece —; Latine autem qui dicitur, ut sit: qui beatus dabit fructum in resurrectione sua, quando potest perpetuum dare. potest et sic 8 xov XOQVCOV avrov: vneQ £ vlov, ut referatur ad lignum, cuius facta omnia prosperabuntur. in quo euidens testificatio, quia de saluatore dictum est;
For the Greek says: "which will give its fruit," which can be referred to the blessed man (in Greek "blessed ... will give"), while in Latin it is "which" [the tree], so that the sense is: he who is blessed will give fruit in his resurrection, when he can give it for ever. It can also be taken thus, "its fruit" as of the tree, so that it is referred to the tree, all of whose deeds will prosper. In this there is clear testimony that it was said of the Savior;
Ps 1:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greek allows "who will give fruit" to refer to the blessed man or to the tree, that is, Christ.
- The Greek words of the Septuagint (Ps 1:3, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει) and Ambrose's grammatical remarks are badly garbled in the digital text; translated by sense, uncertain.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.43.2 (CSEL 64:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.43.3CSEL 64:36–37
cuius enim nisi ipsius facta possunt uniuersa laudari et prosperos habere exitus? Aquilas autem dirigentur ait, quod et ad quemcumque hominem referendum uidetur quem dirigit dominus fauore caelesti; a domino enim diriguntur gressus uiri et orationem suam in conspectu dei Dauid propheta dirigi postulauit. sed et ipse dominus direxit opera sua, ut nullo erroris curuarentur anfractu.
for whose deeds but his can all be praised and have prosperous outcomes? Aquila, however, says "will be directed," which seems also to be referable to any man whom the Lord directs by heavenly favor; for "a man's steps are directed by the Lord," and the prophet David asked that his prayer be directed in the sight of God. But the Lord himself also directed his works, so that they were bent by no winding of error.
Ps 1:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Prov 20:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 141:2 (140:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquila's "will be directed" fits any man God guides, and Christ above all.
- Prov 20:24 (or Ps 37:23 [LXX 36:23]); Ps 141:2 [LXX 140:2].
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.43.3 (CSEL 64:36–37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-43-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 44
1.44.1CSEL 64:37
Sequitur: non sic impii, non sic, sed tamquam puluis quem proicit uentus a facie terrae, hoc est: non sic ut beatus uir, qui ideo beatus, quia non abiit in consilio impiorum, quia in peccato non stetit, in concilio pestilentium non sedit uolentium uel credentes pie uel uiuentes peruertere, qui uoluntatem habuit in lege et meditabitur in ea aut, sicut Aquilas posuit, resonabit in lege, ut praecepta legis resonet uita eius, mores resultent, sicut illorum quorum in omnem terram exiuit sonus.
There follows: "Not so the ungodly, not so, but like the dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth"; that is, not so as the blessed man, who is blessed because he has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, because he has not stood in sin, has not sat in the council of the pestilent who wish to pervert those who believe or live piously; who had his will in the law and will meditate on it, or, as Aquila put it, "will resound in the law," so that his life may resound the law's precepts and his conduct echo them, like those whose sound has gone out into all the earth.
Ps 1:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 1:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 19:4 (18:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The ungodly are unlike the blessed man; Aquila's "resound" means a life that echoes the law.
- Ps 1:4 (Old Latin, with the Greek doubling "not so"); Ps 19:4 [LXX 18:5].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): pr oicit uentus a f acie → proicit uentus a facie.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.44.1 (CSEL 64:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.44.2CSEL 64:37
forte hic sonus doctrinae hominum exeat, illic autem, ubi facie ad faciem dabitur uidere, plenior quaedam uerbi fieri uideatur expressio. non ergo, sicut beatus iste qui haec fecerit, qui erit tamquam lignum plantatum, cuius gesta omnia prosperabuntur, ita erit et impius.
Perhaps here the sound of human teaching goes out, but there, where it will be given to see face to face, a kind of fuller expression of the word seems to come about. Not, then, as this blessed man who has done these things, who will be like a planted tree, all of whose deeds will prosper, so too will the ungodly be.
1 Cor 13:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 1:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The ungodly will not prosper as the blessed man does.
- 1 Cor 13:12.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.44.2 (CSEL 64:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.44.3CSEL 64:37
ideo repetiuit uel qui scripsit uel qui postea addidit — ut quidam putant —, quo confirmatior fieret repetita sententia dicendo: non sic impii, non sic, qui erunt tamquam puluis. sunt enim terreni et, sicut puluis proicitur a facie uenti, ita et isti proicientur et dissipabuntur a spiritu sancto, qui terrae fertili atque fecundae animae salutaris sicut uentus auster aspirare consueuit.
So either he who wrote it or he who added it later (as some think) repeated it, so that the sentence might be the firmer for being repeated, saying: "Not so the ungodly, not so," who will be like dust. For they are earthly; and as dust is driven from the face of the wind, so they too will be driven out and scattered by the Holy Spirit, who is wont to breathe on the fertile and fruitful earth of the saved soul like the south wind.
Ps 1:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The repeated "not so" confirms the sentence; the ungodly are scattered like dust by the Spirit.
- Ps 1:4. The doubled "not so" is in the Greek, not the Hebrew; Ambrose mentions the view that it was added.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.44.3 (CSEL 64:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-44-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 45
1.45.1CSEL 64:37–38
Huic uento dicitur in Canticis: ueni, auster, ut clementia aeris mollioris cordis nostri arua laxentur, quae brumali gelu stricta recipiendis gremium seminibus denegabant. bonum est nobis ut hic uentus aspiret, qui naues Tharsis, ferentes uero Salomoni quae ad templum eius necessaria uidentur, tutos deducat in portus.
To this wind it is said in the Song: "Come, south wind," so that, by the mildness of a gentler air, the fields of our heart may be loosened, which, bound by winter frost, refused their lap to the seeds to be received. It is good for us that this wind should blow, which brings safely into harbor the ships of Tarshish, which bear to the true Solomon what seems needed for his temple.
Song 4:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 10:22 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Spirit is the south wind of the Song that softens our hearts.
- Song 4:16; 1 Kgs 10:22 (the ships of Tarshish). "The true Solomon" is Christ.
Topics: The Holy Spirit
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.45.1 (CSEL 64:37–38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-45-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-45-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.45.2CSEL 64:38
sed tunc iste uentus aspirat, si boreas ille grauis uentus flare desierit. ideo uel ecclesia uel anima pia dicit: exurge, borea, et ueni, auster, hoc est: tu, borea, recede et ueni, auster, adspira hortum meum, ut flores non discutias, sed reserues. anima igitur plena pietatis hortum habet uel ipsa hortus est, qui fructus ferat, anima quae impietati patet puluerem habet, qui est infecundus ad fructum. fructiferam illam quidem fecit dominus, sed ipsa sibi collegit impietatis puluerem.
But this wind blows only if that heavy wind, the north wind, has stopped blowing. So either the church or the pious soul says: "Rise up, north wind, and come, south wind," that is: you, north wind, withdraw, and come, south wind, blow upon my garden, not to scatter the flowers but to preserve them. The soul full of piety, then, has a garden or is itself a garden that bears fruit; the soul open to ungodliness has dust, which is barren of fruit. The Lord made it fruitful, but it gathered for itself the dust of ungodliness.
Song 4:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The pious soul is a garden, the ungodly soul dust.
- Song 4:16.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.45.2 (CSEL 64:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-45-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-45-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 46
1.46.1CSEL 64:38
Quid te iactas, o plene impietatis? an quia honoribus es potens et abundas diuitiis? non aduertis, quia puluis es et tu dispergeris et dissipaberis? uidi, inquit, impium superexaltatum et eleuatum super cedros Libani et transiui, et ecce non erat. quid gloriaris, quia multa seruitia ambiunt, multi amici tegunt latera tua, plurimi te equi
Why do you boast, you who are full of ungodliness? Because you are powerful with honors and abound in riches? Do you not notice that you are dust, and will be scattered and dispersed? "I saw," he says, "the ungodly man exalted and lifted above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was not." Why do you glory because many servants throng about you, many friends cover your sides, very many horses
Ps 37:35 (36:35 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:36 (36:36 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The powerful ungodly man is dust, soon gone.
- Ps 37:35–36 [LXX 36:35–36].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray number): equi 15 → equi.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.46.1 (CSEL 64:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.46.2CSEL 64:38
secuntur, quorum nobis enarres prosapiam et tamquam maiorum suorum genus? praefers diuitias, quia conuiuiis pascis sodales. utinam egenos pasceres, utinam non iocorum ministros, sed uotorum adiutores! iactas, quia prodeunti ilico ceditur et homines te tamquam ferum declinant aut bestiam. non haec esse aliquid? non audis, quia ea omnia tamquam umbra praetereant? quid iuuant consulares praetextae aut nitentes auro triumphales palmatae?
follow you, whose pedigree you recount to us as if it were the race of their ancestors? You display your riches because you feed your companions at banquets. Would that you fed the needy; would that you fed not the ministers of jests but the helpers of prayers! You boast because people give way at once when you come out, and men avoid you like a wild animal or a beast. Do you not know that these things are nothing? Do you not hear that they all pass away like a shadow? What good are consular robes or triumphal tunics gleaming with gold?
Ps 144:4 (143:4 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Wealth, display and office pass like a shadow; better to feed the poor.
- Wis 5:9; Ps 144:4 [LXX 143:4].
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 5:9 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Topics: Ethics, Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.46.2 (CSEL 64:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.46.3CSEL 64:38–39
nudus exibis, nemo illic consulem recognoscet. quid prosunt innumerae possessiones? publicae sunt, non tuae; hodie tu tenes, cras alius. cum tu exieris, alius intrat; uix mouisti pedem, alius gressum intulit. quanti ante te illic fuerunt, quanti post te dominabuntur! et hoc putas esse priuatum? quem umquam a morte diuitiae redemerunt, immo quem non ad mortem diuitiae coegerunt?
Naked you will go out; no one there will recognize a consul. What good are countless possessions? They are public, not yours; today you hold them, tomorrow another. When you go out, another comes in; you have scarcely moved your foot when another has set his step there. How many were there before you, how many will be masters after you! And you think this is private property? Whom have riches ever redeemed from death? Rather, whom have riches not driven to death?
Job 1:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 49:17 (48:18 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We leave the world naked; possessions pass to others and cannot save from death.
- Job 1:21; Ps 49:17 [LXX 48:18].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray colon): gressum: intulit → gressum intulit.
Topics: Ethics, Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.46.3 (CSEL 64:38–39; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.46.4CSEL 64:39
quem ab inferis suae reuocarunt opes, quem potentia excusauit a poena? puluis est impietas, sicut puluis est impiorum potentia; caliginem infert, dare salutem non potest. simul ut uehemens flare coeperit spiritus, spargit eam atque dissoluit, aerem turbat, solum nudat; ut puluis proicitur, deficit ut fumus, liquescit ut cera.
Whom have his riches called back from the underworld, whom has power excused from punishment? Ungodliness is dust, as the power of the ungodly is dust; it brings darkness, it cannot give salvation. As soon as a strong wind begins to blow, it scatters and dissolves it, troubles the air, lays bare the ground; like dust it is driven off, it vanishes like smoke, it melts like wax.
Ps 1:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 68:2 (67:3 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The power of the ungodly vanishes like dust, smoke and wax.
- Ps 68:2 [LXX 67:3].
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.46.4 (CSEL 64:39; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-46-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 47
1.47.1CSEL 64:39
Hinc plerique non mediocrem mouerunt quaestionem, utrum perituram naturam uideatur asserere scriptura diuina, maxime quia alibi dicit: comminuam eos ut puluerem ante faciem uenti et ut lutum platearum delebo eos, et alibi: ecce confundentur et reuerebuntur omnes aduersarii; erunt enim tamquam non sint.
Hence many have raised no small question, whether divine Scripture seems to assert that a nature will perish, especially because it says elsewhere: "I will grind them like dust before the face of the wind, and like the mud of the streets I will blot them out," and elsewhere: "Behold, all the adversaries will be confounded and ashamed; for they will be as though they were not."
Ps 18:42 (17:43 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 41:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 41:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Does Scripture teach that the ungodly will be annihilated?
- Ps 18:42 [LXX 17:43]; Isa 41:11–12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): etalibi → et alibi.
Topics: Eschatology, Hell and eternal punishment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.47.1 (CSEL 64:39; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.47.2CSEL 64:39
primum ergo interrogo, utrum impietatem secundum naturam putent esse an praeter naturam. si secundum naturam asserant, errare eorum opinionem certum est. denique dicant, utrum naturae peccatum conueniat an non. sed certum est peccare deuiare esse ab eo quod est secundum naturam. quid igitur tam ineptum quam ut dicant minus uideri impium esse quam peccatorem, cum omnium acerbissimum sit quicquid in dei fieri uidetur iniuriam?
First, then, I ask whether they think ungodliness is according to nature or contrary to nature. If they assert it is according to nature, their opinion is certainly mistaken. Let them say whether sin suits nature or not. But it is certain that to sin is to stray from what is according to nature. What, then, is so absurd as for them to say that being ungodly seems a lesser thing than being a sinner, when the bitterest of all is whatever is done to wrong God?
Notes and citation
Summary: Ungodliness, like sin, is contrary to nature.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.47.2 (CSEL 64:39; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.47.3CSEL 64:39–40
quodsi impie agere non est praeter naturam, uiuere ergo impie secundum naturam nec peccati loco habendum est nec dignum reprehensione aestimandum; nemo enim reprehenditur qui operatur secundum naturam. unde concluditur, quia impietas praeter naturam est. quomodo igitur cum perditione consuetudinis συναπολλυμένας φύσεις,
But if acting ungodly is not contrary to nature, then living ungodly is according to nature, and is neither to be counted as sin nor judged worthy of blame; for no one is blamed who acts according to nature. Hence it is concluded that ungodliness is contrary to nature. How, then, along with the destruction of the habit, does Scripture introduce "natures perishing together,"
Notes and citation
Summary: Since ungodliness is against nature, its destruction need not destroy the nature.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: Greek read as Latin letters): ovvcmokovjuevag <pvoeiq, → συναπολλυμένας φύσεις,.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.47.3 (CSEL 64:39–40; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.47.4CSEL 64:40
hoc est perituras naturas inducit scriptura, cum impietas non utique naturalis sit, sed praeter naturam quod enim non habes, non amittis nec potest ea substantia perire quae non fuit. nam et puluis commotus aut in aquae substantiam transfertur aut in aerem aut in ignem, hoc est: in aliam uidetur saepe transire naturam. non ergo in nihilum deficit, sed in aliud transit.
that is, perishing natures, when ungodliness is certainly not natural but contrary to nature? For what you do not have you do not lose, nor can a substance perish that did not exist. For dust too, when stirred up, is changed either into the substance of water or into air or into fire; that is, it often seems to pass into another nature. It does not, then, vanish into nothing, but passes into something else.
Notes and citation
Summary: What perishes is ungodliness, not the nature; even dust changes rather than vanishes.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.47.4 (CSEL 64:40; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-47-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 48
1.48.1CSEL 64:40
Quid obstat igitur, quin et ille, qui uerbi uirtute et ratione comminuitur ut puluis, non in nihilum dissipetur, sed commutetur in melius, ut ex terreno fiat spiritalis homo et ut lutum platearum sic deleatur, ut tollatur quicquid asperum ac sordidum uidetur, remaneat quicquid planum ac mundum est? et quod ait de aduersariis Hierusalem:
What prevents, then, that he too who is ground like dust by the power and reason of the Word should not be scattered into nothing but changed for the better, so that from an earthly man he becomes a spiritual man, and is blotted out like the mud of the streets in such a way that whatever seems rough and filthy is taken away and whatever is smooth and clean remains? And what he says of the adversaries of Jerusalem,
Ps 18:42 (17:43 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:47 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The one ground like dust may be changed for the better, not annihilated.
- Ps 18:42 [LXX 17:43]; 1 Cor 15:47–49.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray point): ut. tollatur → ut tollatur.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.48.1 (CSEL 64:40; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.48.2CSEL 64:40
sunt sicut qui non sunt, utique potuit dicere: non erunt. sed cum dixerit: confundentur et reuerebuntur, utique intellegis, quia erunt per substantiam et profectum conuersionis, sed non erunt quasi aduersarii, quod fuerunt. itaque per improbitatis defectum non erunt, erunt fide ac deuotione mutati. denique et alibi ex peccatoris persona dicitur: et iram dei sustinebo, quia peccaui, donec iustificet iudicium meum; conuertere enim deus cupiens peccatorem punit eum et urit, ut purget.
"they are as those who are not," he could surely have said: "they will not be." But since he said: "they will be confounded and ashamed," you surely understand that they will exist in substance and through the progress of conversion, but they will not exist as adversaries, which they were. So through the failing of their wickedness they will not exist; they will exist, changed by faith and devotion. Indeed elsewhere it is said in the person of the sinner: "And I will bear the wrath of God, because I have sinned, until he justifies my cause"; for God, desiring to convert the sinner, punishes him and burns him in order to purify him.
Isa 41:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 41:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Mic 7:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The adversaries cease to be adversaries but remain, converted; God punishes to purify.
- Isa 41:11–12; Mic 7:9.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray letter; digitization: words joined): sicut quinonsunt → sicut qui non sunt; Lnon → non; non erunterunt fide → non erunt, erunt fide.
Topics: Eschatology, Hell and eternal punishment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.48.2 (CSEL 64:40; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.48.3CSEL 64:40–41
unde ait: et educet me in lucem. nam et ceram urit ignis, liquescit ut purgetur, et nos per ignem probamur, et fumus consumpto omni materiali expurgatur [et] neque naturam transit. itaque et anima purgata ab omni labe in id quod est deficit, non in id quod non est, ut ait Balaam: moriatur anima mea in anima iustorum, ut moreretur lapsus eius et quidam improbitatis usus, transiret autem in consuetudinem uitamque iustorum; omnia enim deus salua uult esse. unde et Salomon dixit: deus mortem non fecit nec laetatur in perditione uiuorum.
Hence he says: "And he will bring me out into the light." For fire burns wax too, and it melts so as to be purified; and we are tested by fire; and smoke, when all its material is consumed, is purged and does not pass out of nature. So the soul too, purified from every stain, passes away into what is, not into what is not, as Balaam says: "Let my soul die in the souls of the just," so that his fall and a certain practice of wickedness might die, and he might pass into the habit and life of the just; for God wills all to be saved. Hence Solomon also said: "God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living."
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Mic 7:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:13 (echo, low confidence) · Num 23:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 2:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire purifies rather than annihilates; God wills all to be saved.
- Mic 7:9; Num 23:10; 1 Tim 2:4; Wis 1:13. The editor deletes "and" before "does not pass".
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters and 1 for i/l): e t educet me 1n 1ucem → et educet me in lucem.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 1:13 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology, Hell and eternal punishment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.48.3 (CSEL 64:40–41; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.48.4CSEL 64:41
fecit animam ut sit, creauit hominem in incorruptionem quem ad imaginem sui fecit; sed homines a naturae munere deuiantes obnoxios fecere se morti, ut quasi terreni corrumpantur. sed deus per tribulationes ad paenitentiam cogit, ut per paenitentiam uratur et consumatur illud accidens malum inprobitatis et pereat et locus ille animae, qui erat accidentis impietatis possessio, pateat ad receptionem uirtutis et gratiae. certum est autem animae naturam esse pretiosam, quae ad similitudinem dei facta receptionem omnis uirtutis admittit, utpote quae cognitionis supernae non sit fraudata consortio.
He made the soul so that it might be; he created man for incorruption, whom he made in his own image; but men, straying from the gift of nature, made themselves liable to death, so that they are corrupted as earthly. But God drives them through tribulations to repentance, so that through repentance that accidental evil of wickedness may be burned and consumed and perish, and that place in the soul which was the possession of accidental ungodliness may lie open to receive virtue and grace. And it is certain that the nature of the soul is precious, which, made in the likeness of God, admits the reception of every virtue, as one not cheated of a share in heavenly knowledge.
Gen 1:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Evil is an accident in the soul, burned away by repentance; the soul's nature is precious.
- Wis 2:23; Gen 1:26–27.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 2:23 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Evil and its origin, Repentance
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.48.4 (CSEL 64:41; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-48-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 49
1.49.1CSEL 64:41
Nunc illud superesse arbitramur quod in multorum ore uersatur, qua ratione deus, cuius sine uoluntate nec passer uilissimus cadit et apud quem capilli capitis numerati sunt, dixerit per Esaiam: si omnes gentes ut stillicidium de urceo et sicut momentum staterae aestimatae sunt et ut sputum aestimabuntur. ita ergo peribunt omnes gentes sicut stillicidium de urceo et ut sputum perit et ad nullos usus proficit?
Now there remains, we think, the question that is in many mouths: for what reason God, without whose will not even the cheapest sparrow falls, and with whom the hairs of the head are numbered, said through Isaiah: "If all the nations are counted as a drop from a pitcher and as the turn of a scale, and will be counted as spittle"? Will all the nations, then, perish like a drop from a pitcher, and as spittle perishes and is of no use?
Matt 10:29 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 10:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 40:15 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Why does Isaiah count the nations as a drop and spittle, if God cares even for sparrows?
- Matt 10:29–30; Isa 40:15 (Old Latin from the Greek, "as spittle").
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray point): om.nes → omnes.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.49.1 (CSEL 64:41; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.49.2CSEL 64:41
sed tu, qui nosti quia gentes non eo usque pro nihilo habuit deus noster, ut et Abrahae dixerit: benedicentur in te omnes gentes per Dauid locutus sit ad filium dicens: dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam et infra: omnes gentes seruient ei, qui legisti quia optulit filium suum pro omni gente, ut saluos faceret peccatores, debes hoc loco uim diuinae sententiae considerare.
But you who know that our God did not hold the nations so far for nothing that he said to Abraham too: "In you all nations will be blessed," and spoke through David to the Son, saying: "I will give you the nations as your inheritance," and below: "All nations will serve him"; you who have read that he offered his Son for every nation, to save sinners, ought in this place to consider the force of the divine sentence.
Gen 22:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 72:11 (71:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:32 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Tim 1:15 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God promised the nations blessing and gave his Son for them.
- Gen 22:18; Ps 2:8; Ps 72:11 [LXX 71:11]; Rom 8:32; 1 Tim 1:15.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.49.2 (CSEL 64:41; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.49.3CSEL 64:41–42
contemplatione etenim creaturarum caelestium quae multae sunt, sicut caeli, quod multipliciter maius quam terra est, ut a plerisque punctum comparatione caeli terra sit aestimata, angelorum, archangelorum, principatuum et potestatum, thronorum, dominationum, milium et decem milium et innumerabilium milium, contemplatione
For in comparison with the heavenly creatures, which are many: such as heaven, which is many times greater than the earth, so that by most the earth is reckoned a point in comparison with heaven; the angels, archangels, principalities and powers, thrones, dominions, thousands and ten thousands and countless thousands; in comparison
Col 1:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Dan 7:10 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Compared with heaven and its hosts the earth is a mere point.
- Col 1:16; Dan 7:10. The earth as a point compared with the heavens is a commonplace of ancient astronomy.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.49.3 (CSEL 64:41–42; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.49.4CSEL 64:42
ergo horum gentes ut stillicidium de urceo aestimatae sunt, cuius est omnis plenitudo. ex illa igitur plenitudine caelesti tamquam gutta cadens aestimatae sunt gentes. quomodo enim poterant maximae uideri, cum ipsa terra, in qua sunt gentes, minima mundi portio sit et omnium, quae operatus est deus, tamquam staterae exigua inclinatio gentes sint? simul cognosce per hanc stateram omnia deum cum iustitia condidisse et in ipsis gentibus inesse quiddam naturaliter, in quo iustitiae uideretur uel exiguum esse momentum, et sputum ipsum tamquam ex uniuersitate totius corporis interiorem existere portionem.
with these, then, the nations are counted as a drop from a pitcher, of which all is fullness. From that heavenly fullness, then, the nations are counted as a drop falling. For how could they seem very great, when the earth itself, on which the nations are, is the least part of the world, and of all that God has made the nations are like the slight tilt of a scale? At the same time, learn through this scale that God founded all things with justice, and that there is something by nature in the nations themselves in which there seems to be even a slight weight of justice; and that the spittle itself comes, as it were, from the inner part of the whole body.
Isa 40:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The nations are small only by comparison with the heavenly hosts, and even so have a weight of justice.
- Isa 40:15.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.49.4 (CSEL 64:42; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-49-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 50
1.50.1CSEL 64:42
Magis ergo hic misericordia praedicatur, quoniam, qui uenit quaerere quod perierat, nec stillicidium illud quasi uile contempsit et alleuauit momentum staterae et sputo illi substantiam boni corporis donare dignatus est, id est: gentes omnes in unum corpus ecclesiae congregare. inter gentes autem et Israel annumerari potest nequaquam expers diuinae eius iustitiae, quia ipse Moyses dixit de Israel:
So mercy is rather proclaimed here, since he who came to seek what was lost did not despise that drop as worthless, raised up the turn of the scale, and deigned to give that spittle the substance of a good body, that is, to gather all the nations into the one body of the church. And among the nations Israel too can be counted, by no means without a share in his divine justice, since Moses himself said of Israel:
Luke 19:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 40:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ gathered the slight drop of the nations into the one body of the church.
- Luke 19:10.
Topics: The church
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.50.1 (CSEL 64:42; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-50-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-50-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.50.2CSEL 64:42–43
ecce populus sapiens et disciplinae tenax gens magna. et scias, quia supra meritum nostrum dei bonitas redundauit, apostolus hunc propheticum locum interpretatus ait: conclusit deus omnia in incredulitate, ut omnium misereatur, et subiunxit: o altitudo diuitiarum sapientiae et scientiae dei! quam inscrutabilia sunt iudicia eius et inuestigabiles uiae eius! quis enim cognouit sensum domini? aut quis consiliarius eius fuit? aut quis prior dedit illi, et retribuetur ei? hunc autem locum praemittens propheta ait: si omnes gentes ut stillicidium de urceo aestimatae sunt et reliqua, ut agnoscas intellectum istum cum interpretatione apostolica conuenire.
"Behold a wise people, holding fast to discipline, a great nation." And that you may know that God's goodness has overflowed beyond our merit, the apostle, interpreting this prophetic passage, says: "God has shut up all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all"; and he added: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid him?" And the prophet, putting this passage first, says: "If all the nations are counted as a drop from a pitcher" and the rest, so that you may recognize that this understanding agrees with the apostle's interpretation.
Deut 4:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:32 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:33 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:34 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:35 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 40:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 40:15 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul's doxology in Romans 11 interprets Isaiah 40.
- Deut 4:6; Rom 11:32–35, which quotes Isa 40:13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: o for s; digitization: spaced letters): oensum → sensum; s i omnes → si omnes.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.50.2 (CSEL 64:42–43; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-50-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-50-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 51
1.51.1CSEL 64:43
Sed quid euidentius eo, quod perituras naturas non uideatur inducere, cum ipse subiecerit sanctus propheta: quoniam non resurgunt impii in iudicio? non enim dixit: non resurgunt, sed ait: resurgunt quidem, sed non in iudicio. qui autem resurgit, est utique et manet; sed quia non credidit in Christum, iam iudicatus est et ideo non uenit in iudicium, quem peracti iam manet poena iudicii. et de resurrectione quidem plurima scripturarum sunt testimonia, quae non praetermisimus in libris Consolationis et Resurrectionis.
But what is clearer than that he does not seem to introduce perishing natures, since the holy prophet himself added: "Therefore the ungodly do not rise in judgment"? For he did not say: they do not rise; but he said: they rise indeed, but not in judgment. And he who rises certainly is and remains; but because he did not believe in Christ, he is already judged, and so does not come into judgment, since the penalty of a judgment already made awaits him. And of the resurrection there are very many testimonies of the Scriptures, which we did not pass over in the books On Consolation and On the Resurrection.
Ps 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:18 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The ungodly rise, but not to judgment: they are already judged.
- Ps 1:5; John 3:18. Ambrose's books On Consolation and On the Resurrection are his two books On the Death of His Brother Satyrus (the second on the resurrection); not on the site.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.51.1 (CSEL 64:43; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.51.2CSEL 64:43
de eo autem, quod ait: non resurgunt impii in iudicio, secundum euangelium absoluta sententia est, quia non omnes iudicabuntur. apostolus autem ait: omnes enim oportet nos stare ante tribunal Christi, ut recipiat unusquisque propria corporis prout gessit, siue bonum siue malum. haec putant plerique esse contraria nec aduertunt, quia saluator de perfidis dixit atque impiis, qui non crediderunt in dominum Iesum.
As for his saying: "The ungodly do not rise in judgment," according to the gospel the sentence is unqualified, since not all will be judged. But the apostle says: "For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." Many think these contradictory and do not notice that the Savior spoke of the faithless and ungodly, who did not believe in the Lord Jesus.
Ps 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:10 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The apparent conflict between Ps 1:5 and 2 Cor 5:10 is resolved: unbelievers are already judged.
- Ps 1:5; 2 Cor 5:10 (with Rom 14:10).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: OCR letter slips; digitization: missing space; digitization: spaced letters and 1 for l): lmpn → impii; ait:omnes → ait: omnes; m a 1 u m → malum.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.51.2 (CSEL 64:43; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.51.3CSEL 64:43–44
sic enim ait: qui credit in me non iudicatur; qui autem non credit iam iudicatus est, quia non credidit in nomine unigeniti filii dei. hoc autem est iudicium, quia uenit lux in hunc mundum et dilexerunt magis homines tenebras quam lucem; erant enim mala ipsorum opera. liquet igitur de quibus dictum sit, hoc est: de his qui non crediderunt in dominum Iesum. apostolus
For he says thus: "He who believes in me is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into this world and men loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil." It is clear, then, of whom it was said, that is, of those who did not believe in the Lord Jesus. The apostle
John 3:18 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John 3:18–19 shows that unbelievers are already judged.
- John 3:18–19.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.51.3 (CSEL 64:43–44; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.51.4CSEL 64:44
quoque, etsi dixit omnes, de his utique dixit qui crediderunt, sed actuum suorum rationem in die iudicii reddituri sunt. denique ipse alibi ait, quia testimonium conscientiae nostrae ad diem iudicii reuelabitur, cum inuicem cogitationes nostrae aut accusabunt se, ut scriptum est, aut defendent et patebunt cordis occulta. quid autem hoc euidentius, quod ait alibi omnes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur? immutabuntur enim iusti in incorruptionem manente corporis ueritate.
too, though he said "all," certainly said it of those who have believed but will render an account of their actions on the day of judgment. Indeed he himself says elsewhere that the testimony of our conscience will be revealed on the day of judgment, when our thoughts will either accuse one another, as it is written, or defend, and the secrets of the heart will lie open. And what is clearer than his saying elsewhere: "We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed"? For the just will be changed into incorruption, the reality of the body remaining.
Rom 2:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 2:16 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:51 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul's "all" means believers, who will give account; all rise, the just are changed.
- Rom 2:15–16; 1 Cor 4:5; 1 Cor 15:51 in the Latin reading "we shall all rise, but not all be changed".
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.51.4 (CSEL 64:44; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.51.5CSEL 64:44
Danihel quoque dicit: iudicium sedit et libri aperti sunt. ostendit ergo iudicium futurum, maxime cum alibi idem dicat: multi qui sedent in tumulo terrae exurgent, isti in uitam aeternam et isti in obprobrium et confusionem aeternam; et intellegentes splendebunt sicut splendor caeli et de iustis multi sicut stellae lucebunt.
Daniel too says: "The judgment sat and the books were opened." He shows, then, that there will be a judgment, especially since he says elsewhere: "Many who sit in the mound of the earth will rise, these to eternal life and those to reproach and eternal confusion; and those who understand will shine like the brightness of heaven, and many of the just will shine like the stars."
Dan 7:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Dan 12:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Dan 12:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Daniel foretells the judgment and resurrection.
- Dan 7:10; Dan 12:2–3 (Old Latin).
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment, Resurrection of the body
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.51.5 (CSEL 64:44; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-51-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 52
1.52.1CSEL 64:44
Quod istud est iudicium sedentium iudicum et qui libri aperti nisi conscientiae nostrae uelut libri peccatorum nostrorum seriem continentes? quamquam hoc ipsum uile sit aestimare quasi humani simile iudicii. aliud est Christi iudicium, ubi conscientia ipsa se prodit, quae latere non potest occultorum arbitrum, ubi cogitationes lucent apud eum qui adhuc cogitantibus dicebat:
What is this judgment of seated judges, and what are the books opened, but our consciences, like books containing the record of our sins? Although it is mean to reckon this as if it were like a human judgment. Christ's judgment is another thing: there conscience itself betrays itself, unable to hide from the judge of secrets; there thoughts shine before him who said to people still thinking them:
Dan 7:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The opened books are our consciences, laid bare before Christ.
- Dan 7:10.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment, Conscience
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.52.1 (CSEL 64:44; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.52.2CSEL 64:44–45
quid cogitatis mala in cordibus uestris? cum Iudaeis diceret, dicebat omnibus, ne quis putaret quod occulta possent esse quae faceret, ne quis putaret quod parietibus clausus testem occulti erroris effugeret. ideoque et euangelista testatur dicens: Iesus autem sciebat cogitationes eorum. quomodo ergo ait: libri aperti sunt? non utique atramento scripti, sed uestigiis delictorum et flagitiorum inquinamento. aperietur liber conscientiae tuae, aperietur liber cordis tui, culpa nostra recitabitur.
"Why do you think evil things in your hearts?" When he said it to the Jews, he said it to all, so that no one might think that what he did could be hidden, no one think that, shut in by walls, he could escape the witness of his secret error. And so the evangelist too testifies, saying: "But Jesus knew their thoughts." How, then, does it say: "the books were opened"? Not written in ink, surely, but by the traces of offenses and the defilement of shameful deeds. The book of your conscience will be opened, the book of your heart will be opened, our guilt will be read out.
Matt 9:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 6:8 (quotation, medium confidence) · Dan 7:10 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ knows hidden thoughts; the books are written in the traces of our sins.
- Matt 9:4; Luke 6:8; Dan 7:10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: 1 for l): 1ibri → libri.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.52.2 (CSEL 64:44–45; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.52.3CSEL 64:45
est ibi liber ubi est tabula, immo sunt libri inscripti ubi sunt inscriptae tabulae, quas inscribit spiritu sancto apostolica doctrina, sicut legimus dicente Paulo epistula nostra uos estis, inscripta non atramento, sed spiritu dei uiui, non in tabulis lapideis, sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus. sunt ergo tabulae cordis inscriptae spiritu sancto, istae recitabuntur; si bene egeris, manebit scriptura.
There is a book where there is a tablet; rather, there are books written where there are written tablets, which the apostolic teaching inscribes with the Holy Spirit, as we read when Paul says: "You are our letter, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on fleshly tablets of the heart." There are, then, tablets of the heart written by the Holy Spirit; these will be read out; if you have done well, the writing will remain.
2 Cor 3:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 3:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The books include the tablets of the heart written by the Spirit.
- 2 Cor 3:2–3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters and 1 for l): carna 1 ibus → carnalibus.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.52.3 (CSEL 64:45; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.52.4CSEL 64:45
uide ne tollas spiritus sancti gratiam, uide ne deleas et scribas atramento flagitia tua, ne ueniat dies iudicii et dicat iudex: recitentur libri, recitentur tabulae gestorum eius et dicat tibi: ego scripsi tabulas tuas; cur delesti apices meos? et ego scripsi dona mea; quomodo delesti munera mea et scripsisti obprobria tua? non legisti quia scribo? non tibi dixi per os prophetae mei: lingua mea calamus scribae uelociter scribentis? iudicium autem uerbi est.
See that you do not take away the grace of the Holy Spirit; see that you do not blot it out and write your shameful deeds in ink, lest the day of judgment come and the judge say: "Let the books be read, let the tablets of his deeds be read," and say to you: "I wrote your tablets; why did you blot out my letters? I wrote my gifts; how did you blot out my gifts and write your disgraces? Did you not read that I write? Did I not say to you through the mouth of my prophet: 'My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly'?" And the judgment belongs to the Word.
Ps 45:1 (44:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 5:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · Eph 4:30 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Do not blot out the Spirit's writing on the heart with your sins.
- Ps 45:1 [LXX 44:2]; John 5:22.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: 1 for l; digitization: u for a): et scribus → et scribas; 1ingua → lingua.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.52.4 (CSEL 64:45; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-52-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 53
1.53.1CSEL 64:45
Multi ergo dormientium in tumulo terrae surgent, qui bene egerunt in resurrectionem uitae, qui mala egerunt in resurrectionem iudicii. quod Danihel ait: in uitam aeternam, hoc saluator in resurrectionem uitae dixit; item quod ait Danihel: in obprobrium et confusionem, saluator dixit: in resurrectionem iudicii.
Many, then, of those sleeping in the mound of the earth will rise: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. What Daniel says, "to eternal life," the Savior called "to the resurrection of life"; again, what Daniel says, "to reproach and confusion," the Savior called "to the resurrection of judgment."
Dan 12:2 (quotation, high confidence) · John 5:29 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Daniel and Christ both teach a resurrection to life and to judgment.
- Dan 12:2; John 5:29.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): r esurrectionem → resurrectionem.
Topics: Eschatology, Resurrection of the body, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.53.1 (CSEL 64:45; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-53-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-53-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.53.2CSEL 64:45–46
unde non expedit nobis ad iudicium uenire et non expedit non uenire, ne aut praedamnati uideamur aut in hac labe uitiorum subeamus tanti pondus iudicii. propheta rogat, ne intret dominus in iudicium cum seruo suo; quanto magis nos iudicium domini timere debemus! pone, quia misericors dominus ignoscet; quanta prodentur, quae latere credebam! qui pudor, quae confusio erit, cum, qui alios profitebar docere, ipse in eo deprehendar in quo alios arguebam!
Hence it is not good for us to come to judgment, and it is not good not to come, lest either we seem condemned in advance or, in this stain of vices, undergo the weight of so great a judgment. The prophet asks that the Lord not enter into judgment with his servant; how much more ought we to fear the Lord's judgment! Suppose that the merciful Lord will pardon: how much will be brought to light that I believed was hidden! What shame, what confusion will there be when I, who professed to teach others, am caught myself in what I reproved in others!
Ps 143:2 (142:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 2:21 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We should fear the judgment, at which our hidden sins will be exposed.
- Ps 143:2 [LXX 142:2]; Rom 2:21.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: m for ni): uemre → uenire.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.53.2 (CSEL 64:45–46; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-53-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-53-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 54
1.54.1CSEL 64:46
Et ideo quoniam et saluator duo genera resurrectionis posuit et Iohannes in Apocalypsi dicens: beatus qui habet partem in prima resurrectione — isti enim sine iudicio ueniunt ad gratiam, qui autem non ueniunt ad primam resurrectionem, sed ad secundam reseruantur, isti urentur, donec impleant tempora inter primam et secundam resurrectionem, aut, si non im-
And so, since the Savior set out two kinds of resurrection, and John too in the Apocalypse, saying: "Blessed is he who has a part in the first resurrection" (for these come to grace without judgment, while those who do not come to the first resurrection but are reserved for the second will be burned until they fulfil the times between the first and the second resurrection, or, if they have not fulfilled
Rev 20:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 20:5 (allusion, high confidence) · John 5:29 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: There are two resurrections; those not in the first are burned until the second.
- Rev 20:5–6; John 5:29. Ambrose's view of a purifying burning between the two resurrections is translated as written.
Topics: Eschatology, Resurrection of the body
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.54.1 (CSEL 64:46; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-54-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-54-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.54.2CSEL 64:46
pleuerint, diutius in supplicio permanebunt —, ideo ergo rogemus, ut in prima resurrectione partem habere mereamur. sunt qui resurrexerunt in passione Christi et isti plane beati, qui acceperunt Christi gratiam et audierunt uocem eius, de qua scriptum est: uenit hora quando audient mortui uocem filii dei et qui audierint uiuent, et: ingressi sunt in sanctam ciuitatem. puto quod magis illam significet supernam quam istam Hierusalem quam reliquit, quam incusauit, quod in istam pedibus, in illam autem supernam meritis intrauerunt.
them, will remain longer in punishment), therefore let us ask that we may deserve to have a part in the first resurrection. There are those who rose at Christ's passion, and these are plainly blessed, who received Christ's grace and heard his voice, of which it is written: "The hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live," and: "They went into the holy city." I think it signifies rather that heavenly city than this Jerusalem, which he left and which he accused; for they entered this one with their feet, but that heavenly one by their merits.
John 5:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:52 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:53 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The saints who rose at Christ's death entered the heavenly city.
- John 5:25; Matt 27:52–53.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.54.2 (CSEL 64:46; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-54-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-54-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 55
1.55.1CSEL 64:46–47
Sed et illud caueamus, ut hic positi surgamus de tumulo terrae. sunt qui uiuentes sepulchro sunt circumdati et repleti mortuis, quorum guttur sepulchrum est non loquentium uerba uitae, sed mortis. si hic resurrexerimus a mortuis, et ibi resurgemus; si hic non fuerimus ossa arida, sed acceperimus rorem uerbi, umorem spiritus sancti, et illic uiuemus; si hic nos excitauerit Iesus uoce sua magna, ut excitauit et Lazarum, et per discipulos suos soluerit a uinculis mortis et induxerit in Bethaniam, ubi erat Lazarus, hoc est in domum oboeditionis et adhibuerit conuiuio suo, et illic cum eo semper epulabimur et illic cum eodem recumbemus et illic nobis redolebit unguentum, quod solus proditor dolebat effusum.
But let us beware of this too: that while placed here we rise from the mound of the earth. There are those who, while living, are surrounded by a tomb and filled with the dead, whose throat is a tomb, speaking not words of life but of death. If we rise from the dead here, we shall rise there too; if here we are not dry bones but have received the dew of the Word, the moisture of the Holy Spirit, we shall live there too; if here Jesus has roused us with his loud voice, as he roused Lazarus, and through his disciples loosed us from the bonds of death and led us into Bethany, where Lazarus was, that is, into the house of obedience, and admitted us to his banquet, then there too we shall always feast with him, there too we shall recline with him, and there the ointment will be fragrant for us, whose pouring out only the betrayer lamented.
Ps 5:9 (5:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ezek 37:4 (allusion, high confidence) · John 11:43 (allusion, high confidence) · John 11:44 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:2 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:3 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:5 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We must rise from the death of sin now, like Lazarus, to rise in glory then.
- Ps 5:9 [LXX 5:10]; Ezek 37:1–6; John 11:43–44; John 12:1–5. "House of obedience" is an interpretation of the name Bethany.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray point): .Sed et illud → Sed et illud.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.55.1 (CSEL 64:46–47; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-55-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-55-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 56
1.56.1CSEL 64:47
Ergo impii non resurgunt in iudicio, hoc est: in portionem eorum qui iudicium subituri sunt, nec peccatores surgunt in consilio iustorum. uides quia surgunt impii et non surgunt in iudicio, quia et peccatores, etsi non surgunt in consilio iustorum, resurgunt tamen in iudicio. unde uidentur, qui bene crediderunt et fidem suam etiam operibus exsecuti sunt, ipsi non iudicari, sed surgere in consilio iustorum; peccatores autem, qui non possunt inter iustos surgere, surgent in iudicio.
"Therefore the ungodly do not rise in judgment," that is, into the portion of those who are to undergo judgment, "nor sinners in the council of the just." You see that the ungodly rise and do not rise in judgment, since sinners too, though they do not rise in the council of the just, yet rise in judgment. Hence it seems that those who believed rightly and carried out their faith in works are themselves not judged but rise in the council of the just; while sinners, who cannot rise among the just, will rise in judgment.
Ps 1:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just rise in their council without judgment; sinners rise to judgment.
- Ps 1:5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: l for t): peccalores → peccatores.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.56.1 (CSEL 64:47; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.56.2CSEL 64:47
habes duos ordines; tertius superest impiorum, qui quoniam non crediderunt iam iudicati sunt et ideo non surgunt in iudicio, sed ad poenam; dilexerunt enim magis tenebras quam lucem ideo iudicium eorum poena est et forte poena tenebrarum. et poterat quidem intellegi, quod hi, qui mala opera habent credentes tamen in Christum, uolentes quidem recte uiuere, sed uicti inlecebris peccatorum, dilexerunt plus tenebras quam lucem, id est: utrumque dilexerunt, sed magis tenebras.
You have two orders; there remains a third, that of the ungodly, who, since they did not believe, are already judged, and so rise not in judgment but to punishment; for they loved darkness rather than light; so their judgment is punishment, and perhaps the punishment of darkness. And indeed it could be understood that those who have evil works while believing in Christ, wanting indeed to live rightly but overcome by the enticements of sins, loved darkness more than light, that is, loved both, but darkness more.
John 3:18 (allusion, high confidence) · John 3:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A third order, the ungodly unbelievers, rise straight to punishment.
- John 3:18–19.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: c for e): uolcntes → uolentes.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment, Hell and eternal punishment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.56.2 (CSEL 64:47; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.56.3CSEL 64:47
sed quia de illis praemisit qui non crediderunt, sic accipiendum puto, quod dilexerunt tenebras et non lucem; lux enim Christus. qui ergo non crediderunt luci, absurdum est ut lucem uel dilexisse credantur quam nescierunt; nescierunt enim neque intellexerunt, in tenebris ambulant, sicut scriptum est.
But since he spoke first of those who did not believe, I think it must be taken thus: that they loved darkness and not light; for the light is Christ. It is absurd, then, that those who did not believe the light should be thought to have loved even a little the light they did not know; for "they did not know nor understand; they walk in darkness," as it is written.
John 3:19 (allusion, high confidence) · John 8:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 82:5 (81:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Unbelievers loved darkness, not the light they never knew.
- John 8:12; Ps 82:5 [LXX 81:5].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): i ntellexerunt → intellexerunt.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.56.3 (CSEL 64:47; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-56-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 57
1.57.1CSEL 64:47–48
Sequitur: quoniam nouit dominus uiam iustorum, et iter impiorum peribit. aduerte sensum: non resurgunt impii in iudicio, quoniam nouit dominus uiam iustorum. uias eorum utique nouit, quorum dirigit gressus; sunt enim gressus hominum qui a domino diriguntur. diriguntur a domino et uiae uiri. has nouit dominus uias quae sunt rectae, quae ad illam uitam tendunt dicentis:
There follows: "For the Lord knows the way of the just, and the path of the ungodly will perish." Note the sense: the ungodly do not rise in judgment, because the Lord knows the way of the just. He certainly knows the ways of those whose steps he directs; for there are steps of men that are directed by the Lord. The ways of a man too are directed by the Lord. The Lord knows these ways which are straight, which lead to that life of him who says:
Ps 1:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 20:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Lord knows the ways of the just, which he directs.
- Ps 1:6; Prov 20:24; Ps 37:23 [LXX 36:23].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): aduertesensum → aduerte sensum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.57.1 (CSEL 64:47–48; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-57-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-57-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
1.57.2CSEL 64:48
ego sum uia et ueritas et uita. haec bona est uia, tortuosa autem est uia saeculi; non dignatur illam uiam nosse. illos enim cognoscit qui sunt ipsius, qui operantur opera eius; qui autem operantur iniquitatem, his dicit dominus: discedite a me omnes operarii iniquitatis; non noui uos. non per ignorantiam, sed per id, quod indigni sint scientia dei, nesciuntur.
"I am the way and the truth and the life." This is the good way; but the way of the world is crooked; he does not deign to know that way. For he knows those who are his, who do his works; but to those who work iniquity the Lord says: "Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you." Not through ignorance, but because they are unworthy of God's knowledge, are they not known.
John 14:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 2:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 13:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 7:23 (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the way; he does not "know" the workers of iniquity.
- John 14:6; 2 Tim 2:19; Luke 13:27 (Matt 7:23).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): a meomnesoperariiiniquitatis → a me omnes operarii iniquitatis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.57.2 (CSEL 64:48; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-57-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-57-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 1, chapter 58
1.58.1CSEL 64:48
Pulchre autem ait: et iter impiorum peribit. separauit Latinus, ut iter diceret, et tamquam discreuit iter a uia; Graecus autem in utroque uiam dixit. non otiose tamen Latinus, quia et dominus ego sum uia dixit, non dixit ego sum iter. perire autem iter impiorum dixit, non impios; seruat eorum substantiam, qui si conuertantur solum iter impietatis amittent, quod nec ab initio fuit nec erit. quod accidens igitur est perit, quod substantiuum, manet. pereunt autem ita impii, quomodo dicitur: anima quae peccat ipsa morietur, ut peccati aculeo, non omni substantiae suae dissolutione moriantur.
Finely he says: "and the path of the ungodly will perish." The Latin made a distinction, so as to say "path," and as it were distinguished path from way; but the Greek said "way" in both places. Yet not idly the Latin, since the Lord too said "I am the way," he did not say "I am the path." And he said that the path of the ungodly perishes, not the ungodly; he preserves their substance, so that, if they are converted, they will lose only the path of ungodliness, which neither was from the beginning nor will be. What is accidental, then, perishes; what is substantial remains. And the ungodly perish in the way in which it is said: "The soul that sins shall itself die," so that they die by the sting of sin, not by a total dissolution of their substance.
Ps 1:6 (quotation, high confidence) · John 14:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 18:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:56 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only the path of the ungodly perishes, not their being; sin is an accident.
- Ps 1:6 (Greek ὁδός twice; Latin uia and iter); John 14:6; Ezek 18:4; 1 Cor 15:56.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray point): quod. nec → quod nec.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 1.58.1 (CSEL 64:48; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-58-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/1-58-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 35, chapter 1
35.1.1CSEL 64:48–49
Dicturus propheta in psalmo sequenti, quae esset forma iusti, ante formam expressit iniusti. neque enim possumus cognoscere, quae sit forma iustitiae, nisi cognoscamus, quae sit iniquitatis effigies; sunt enim sibi aduersae atque contrariae. namque in altera simplex habitudo naturae, in altera fallax uersutia nequitiae; alia uirtutum imagines praefert, alia uitiorum commenta praetendit.
The prophet, about to say in the following psalm what the pattern of the just man is, expressed first the pattern of the unjust. For we cannot know what the pattern of justice is unless we know what the likeness of iniquity is; for they are opposed and contrary to each other. In the one there is the simple disposition of nature, in the other the deceitful cunning of wickedness; the one displays images of the virtues, the other holds out the fictions of the vices.
Ps 36:1 (35:1 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 37:1 (36:1 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Psalm 35 (36) sketches the unjust man before Psalm 36 (37) sketches the just.
- Ambrose's Psalm 35 is Ps 36 in the English numbering; his Psalm 36 is Ps 37.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.1.1 (CSEL 64:48–49; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.1.2CSEL 64:49
conuenire autem ordinem hunc et ipsa ratio docet et, si de contrariis sumenda sunt testimonia, ipsi doctores philosophiae confessi sunt, dum secuntur. quis autem dubitet longe anteriorem Dauid Platonis fuisse temporibus, quem non solum magister eius, sed nec aui quidem auorum eius uidere potuerunt, cum ille in principio regni fuerit Iudaeorum, quod per innumera annorum curricula propagatum est, iste post tempora captiuitatis, quibus regnum gentis eius iam fuerat dissolutum?
That this order is fitting, reason itself teaches; and, if testimony is to be taken from opponents, the teachers of philosophy themselves have acknowledged it, while following it. And who would doubt that David was far earlier than the times of Plato, whom not only Plato's teacher but not even the grandfathers of his grandfathers could have seen, since David was at the beginning of the kingdom of the Jews, which was continued through countless courses of years, and Plato after the times of the captivity, when the kingdom of his nation had already been dissolved?
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers followed this order, but David long preceded Plato.
- The argument that the Hebrew writers preceded the Greek philosophers is a commonplace of Christian apologetic.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: i for l): ionge → longe.
Topics: Philosophy
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.1.2 (CSEL 64:49; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.1.3CSEL 64:49
ergo ipse, qui tenet in omnes saecularis sapientiae principatum, cum diceret non posse formam iustitiae comprehendi, nisi ante discutiendam iniustitiae seriem putauissent, exemplum attulit, quod hi, qui uelint aurum quaerere, prius se luto obliniant. aurum itaque iustitia, iniquitas lutum est. quod a nostris quoque dictum esse non dubium est, cum scriptum sit: ut lutum platearum delebo eos; et uere lutum, quia eos inquinat qui sibi appropinquauerint.
So he himself, who holds the first place among all in worldly wisdom, when he said that the pattern of justice could not be grasped unless they first thought the course of injustice must be examined, offered the example that those who want to seek gold first smear themselves with mud. Justice, then, is the gold, iniquity the mud. That this was also said by our writers is not in doubt, since it is written: "Like the mud of the streets I will blot them out"; and truly mud, since it defiles those who come near it.
Ps 18:42 (17:43 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's image: gold-seekers smear themselves with mud; justice is gold, iniquity mud.
- The saying attributed to Plato on examining injustice to grasp justice recalls Republic 2, but the gold-and-mud image is unidentified there (compare Heraclitus on gold-diggers); uncertain. Ps 18:42 [LXX 17:43].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: missing spaces): scriptum sit:ut lutum platearum delebo eos;et uere → scriptum sit: ut lutum platearum delebo eos; et uere.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 2 (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.1.3 (CSEL 64:49; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.1.4CSEL 64:49–50
fugiamus ergo iniustitiam, ne luteis sordibus inquinemur atque in eius uoraginem non pes noster exterior, sed, quod est grauius, mens nostra mergatur. et philosophia quidem aurum se quaerere dicit, sed lutum uersat, quae diuinitatem quaerit in statuis; sed uasa figuli uirga confringit. nos aurum quaerimus, quo corpora nostra mundemus, mortificationem Iesu Christi in corpore nostro circumferentes, ut et uita Iesu Christi in corpore nostro manifestetur. bonum aurum sanguis est Christi, diues ad pretium, profluus ad lauandum omne peccatum. ordinem diximus; titulum consideremus.
Let us flee injustice, then, lest we be defiled with muddy filth, and lest not our outward foot but, what is graver, our mind be sunk in its abyss. Philosophy indeed says it seeks gold, but it handles mud, seeking divinity in statues; but the rod breaks the vessels of the potter. We seek the gold with which to cleanse our bodies, carrying about in our body the dying of Jesus Christ, so that the life of Jesus Christ may also be manifested in our body. Good gold is the blood of Christ, rich in value, flowing abundantly to wash away every sin. We have spoken of the order; let us consider the title.
Ps 2:9 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 1:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy seeks gold in statues; our gold is Christ's blood.
- Ps 2:9; 2 Cor 4:10; 1 Pet 1:18–19.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: garbled word; digitization: m for in): lllmstltmm → iniustitiam; mquinemur → inquinemur.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.1.4 (CSEL 64:49–50; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-1-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 35, chapter 2
35.2.1CSEL 64:50
In finem, inquit, seruo domini psalmus Dauid. in toto psalterii corpore solus hic titulus est, quo psalmum seruo domini se scripsisse testetur. quis iste est seruus domini? uideamus, quid psalmi series significet, cui dictus hic psalmus sit. audiamus ad quem loquatur: domine, inquit, in caelo misericordia tua et ueritas tua usque ad nubes: iustitia tua sicut montes dei, iudicia tua sicut abyssus multa.
"To the end," it says, "for the servant of the Lord, a psalm of David." In the whole body of the psalter this is the only title by which he testifies that he wrote a psalm for the servant of the Lord. Who is this servant of the Lord? Let us see what the course of the psalm indicates, to whom this psalm is spoken. Let us hear to whom he speaks: "Lord," he says, "your mercy is in heaven and your truth reaches to the clouds; your justice is like the mountains of God, your judgments like a great abyss."
Ps 36:1 (35:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 36:5 (35:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 36:6 (35:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The title names "the servant of the Lord"; the psalm addresses one with divine attributes.
- Title of Ps 36 [LXX 35:1]; Ps 36:5–6 [LXX 35:6–7]. The title "servant of the Lord" also stands over Ps 18 [LXX 17]; Ambrose overlooks it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters; digitization: stray initial): In f inem → In finem; psalmus D Dauid → psalmus Dauid.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.2.1 (CSEL 64:50; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.2.2CSEL 64:50
cui hoc nisi filio dei dicitur? haec enim non humanae, sed diuinae sunt potestatis. sed quid sibi uult, quod seruo domini dici psalmum hunc titulus declarauit, cum orationem Moysi hominis dei maluerit quam serui domini in posteriore titulo nuncupare? quod ergo consilium prophetae fuerit non intellego uel potius ipsius domini saluatoris, qui locutus est in propheta.
To whom is this said but to the Son of God? For these belong not to human but to divine power. But what does it mean that the title declared that this psalm is spoken to the servant of the Lord, when in a later title it preferred to name a prayer of "Moses the man of God" rather than of the servant of the Lord? What the prophet's purpose was, then, I do not understand, or rather the purpose of the Lord the Savior himself, who spoke in the prophet.
Ps 90:1 (89:1 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only the Son of God can be meant; but why "servant"?
- Title of Ps 90 [LXX 89:1].
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.2.2 (CSEL 64:50; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.2.3CSEL 64:50
uere iudicia eius sicut abyssus multa, ut seruo honorificentiam reseruaret, sibi condicionem seruitutis adscriberet. uideor mihi intellegere, uideor hausisse aliquid de gratia spiritali. aduersus iniustitiam, ut diximus, psalmus hic scriptus est et ideo plus graua-
Truly his judgments are like a great abyss: that he reserved honor for the servant and ascribed to himself the condition of servitude. I seem to myself to understand, I seem to have drawn something of spiritual grace. This psalm, as we have said, was written against injustice; and so the injustice of the faithless is made the heavier,
Ps 36:6 (35:7 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ took the title of servant for himself.
- Ps 36:6 [LXX 35:7].
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.2.3 (CSEL 64:50; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.2.4CSEL 64:50
tur iniustitia perfidorum, qui Christum Iesum dominum recipere noluerunt, cum ille propter illos susceperit seruitutem. quid enim tam iniquum quam ingratos tantis fuisse beneficiis, ut, quibus ille salutem daret, hi sanguinem eius effunderent? denique alibi, cum de sua passione loqueretur, ad acerbandam Iudaicae impietatis inuidiam sic ait: ne auertas faciem tuam a puero tuo; quoniam tribulor, uelociter exaudi me. pauper et dolens ego sum.
who refused to receive Christ Jesus the Lord, since he took on servitude for their sake. For what is so unjust as to have been ungrateful for such great benefits, so that those to whom he gave salvation shed his blood? Indeed elsewhere, speaking of his passion, to sharpen the odium of the Jewish ungodliness, he says thus: "Do not turn your face from your servant; for I am afflicted, hear me speedily. I am poor and in pain."
Ps 69:17 (68:18 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 69:29 (68:30 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The unjust are those who rejected Christ, who became a servant for them.
- Ps 69:17, 29 [LXX 68:18, 30]. The polemic against the Jews is Ambrose's own; translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: d for I; digitization: spaced letters; digitization: words joined): dudaicae → Iudaicae; n e auertas → ne auertas; pauperetdolensegosum → pauper et dolens ego sum.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.2.4 (CSEL 64:50; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-2-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 35, chapter 3
35.3.1CSEL 64:50–51
Ueni, Paule, interpretare nobis, qua ratione dominus caeli atque terrarum se pauperem dixerit, quae sit ista paupertas. tu certe illum diuitem dixisti; quomodo idem diues et pauper est? audiamus testimonium Pauli: scitis, inquit, gratiam domini nostri Iesu Christi, quia propter uos pauper factus est, cum diues esset, ut uos eius inopia ditaremini.
Come, Paul, interpret for us for what reason the Lord of heaven and earth called himself poor, what this poverty is. You certainly called him rich; how is the same one rich and poor? Let us hear Paul's testimony: "You know," he says, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he became poor, though he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich."
2 Cor 8:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul explains Christ's poverty: he became poor to make us rich.
- 2 Cor 8:9.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): ditarem i ni → ditaremini.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.3.1 (CSEL 64:50–51; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.3.2CSEL 64:51
ueni et tu, Esaias, interpretare nobis, quomodo se dolentem dixerit Christus, qui dolores uulnerum sanare consueuit. medicus uenit, ut curaret aegrotos: quid ipse habuit quod doleret? audiamus etiam Esaiae testimonium: pro nobis, inquit, dolet, et nos aestimauimus eum esse in doloribus.
Come you too, Isaiah, interpret for us how Christ, who was used to healing the pains of wounds, called himself in pain. The physician came to cure the sick: what had he that pained him? Let us hear Isaiah's testimony also: "He is in pain for us," he says, "and we thought him to be in pains."
Isa 53:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 9:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Isaiah explains Christ's pain: he suffered for us.
- Isa 53:4 (Old Latin from the Greek); Matt 9:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters and 1 for i): n o b 1 s → nobis.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.3.2 (CSEL 64:51; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.3.3CSEL 64:51
expressit medici affectum, qui, etiamsi ipse nullum uulnus habuit quod doleret, tamen conpassus est uulneratis. hoc igitur in psalmo dominus exprobrat Iudaeis: ego propter uos pauper, ego pro uobis dolens, et uos mihi manus impias intulistis dicentes: tollamus iustum, quia inutilis est nobis. iniciamus lignum in panem eius. bene panem dicit pro carne eius; ille alimentum detulit, isti pro beneficio retulere supplicium.
He expressed the feeling of a physician, who, even if he himself had no wound to pain him, yet suffered with the wounded. This, then, the Lord reproaches the Jews with in the psalm: "I became poor for you, I am in pain for you, and you laid ungodly hands on me, saying: 'Let us take away the just one, for he is useless to us. Let us throw wood into his bread.'" Well does he say "bread" for his flesh; he brought nourishment, they in return for the kindness repaid him with punishment.
Isa 3:10 (quotation, medium confidence) · Jer 11:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ reproaches those who plotted against him, the Just One.
- Wis 2:12 with Isa 3:10 (Greek); Jer 11:19 ("let us put wood into his bread"), a standard Christian testimony for the cross. The reproach of the Jews is translated as written.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 2:12 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.3.3 (CSEL 64:51; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.3.4CSEL 64:51
non mirum ergo si esuriunt, qui sibi uitae aeternae alimoniam denegarunt. pulchre etiam duo ista iunxerunt: iniciamus lignum in panem eius; nesciebant quid loquerentur Iudaei et mysterium loquebantur. paradisum nobis crux reddidit Christi; hoc est lignum, quod Adae dominus demonstrauit dicens de ligno uitae, quod esset in medio paradisi, edendum, de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali non edendum. errauit Adam, mandata non tenuit, interdictum gustauit;
No wonder, then, if they hunger who denied themselves the nourishment of eternal life. Finely, too, they joined these two: "Let us throw wood into his bread"; the Jews did not know what they were saying and spoke a mystery. The cross of Christ has given paradise back to us; this is the tree which the Lord showed Adam, saying that the tree of life, which was in the midst of paradise, was to be eaten, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not to be eaten. Adam erred, did not keep the commands, tasted the forbidden;
Jer 11:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Unwittingly they spoke of the cross, the tree that restores paradise.
- Jer 11:19; Gen 2:9, 16–17; Gen 3:6.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.3.4 (CSEL 64:51; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
35.3.5CSEL 64:51–52
per lignum coepimus esurire, quoad caro suum accepit alimentum. ideo dominus in Christo carnem iunxit et lignum, ut fames antiqua cessaret, uitae gratia redderetur. beatum lignum domini, quod omnium peccata crucifixit, beata caro domini, quae uictum omnibus ministrauit!
through a tree we began to hunger, until the flesh received its nourishment. So the Lord in Christ joined flesh and wood, so that the ancient hunger might cease and the grace of life be restored. Blessed the tree of the Lord, which crucified the sins of all; blessed the flesh of the Lord, which supplied food to all!
1 Pet 2:24 (echo, medium confidence) · John 6:51 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ joined flesh and the wood of the cross to end the ancient hunger.
- Compare 1 Pet 2:24; John 6:51.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 35.3.5 (CSEL 64:51–52; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/35-3-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.